A Shard of Glass
by Retrobution
Summary: Percy is driving a motorcycle with Annabeth next to him, when a car crashes into them. Who will protect who? And will someone die while the other one survives? A oneshot.


**A/N: I might have gotten some facts wrong about the curse of Achilles but it's part of the story.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians  
  
"Slow down!" Annabeth yelled at her boyfriend.

"I bet you love it!" Percy replied at her over the noise of the engine.

They were on their way to Camp Half Blood, and Percy had offered to drive in his newly brought motorcycle.

"I'm not!" Annabeth said while punching Percy's shoulder and forgetting he had the curse of Achilles.

Annabeth flapped her punching hand around.

"We're almost at camp!" Percy said happily. "And I will not slow down."

"Please Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth hugged her boyfriend from behind.

"Ok, fine."

Annabeth smiled but soon frowned as she realized that they were only going faster.

"For the gods sake Percy!" Annabeth shouted.

Percy turned around for one second to see her angry face, only to hear her scream.

"CAR!" Annabeth screamed loudly.

Percy turned back sharply to the road and saw a car inches away to hit them. He knew he had the curse of Achilles so he shielded Annabeth away from the car as it slammed into them with full impact. But no curse of Achilles could protect his weak spot. A shard of glass somehow managed to hit his vulnerable spot. It seemed impossible. But then he felt that Annabeth was lying on the ground. He hadn't protected her after all. He hadn't even managed to protect himself. One shard of glass. One tiny piece of glass. And he could only scream loudly as he felt the worst pain possible. It was worse than the dip in the Styx. And even worse than holding up the sky. And he felt every single moment of it. Somehow the camp van managed to come before the ambulance did. Will Solace and Apollo himself had placed both him and Annabeth on a stretcher inside the camp van.

Apollo, and Will for once in their life didn't know how to heal a patient. They had to endure Percy's screams and bad conditions all the way. In all, he should have been dead already. The glass hit him in the spot. But it was because the glass was still in there that he was still alive.

They arrived in Camp Half Blood quicker than Percy could have arrived there in his newly brought motorcycle. With the help of the Apollo children, they got two stretchers and hurried them in the infirmary. Tears ran along his face. This was worse than death. And the bad part was that he was still conscious. He could see Annabeth lying next to him, writhing in pain as they tried to keep her alive and well. And he could see them trying to help him too. His throat was dry, but the pain was still there, creeping everywhere. But his loyalty didn't make him care about that.

"Annabeth..." Percy tried to move and managed one centimeter before feeling that immense pain.

Percy tried again and again while the others could only watch. Trying to hold him back would only cause both of them pain.

"Annabeth please..." Percy tried again.

Percy managed to touch Annabeth's hand. It felt so cold. He had already eaten some ambrosia and nectar but even that only softened the pain a notch. Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried to shake her with one hand. The other hand lay uselessly limp on the bed.

"Don't leave me. Annabeth!" Percy raised his voice and it sounded slightly hysterical.

And finally Annabeth made a hand twitch. She opened up one eye, and then the other.

"Percy?" Annabeth said, and said name grinned weakly. "What happened?"

No one interfered with them.

"We crashed. I went too fast." Percy had tears in his eyes as an image of Annabeth dying flashed in his mind.

Annabeth went silent and coughed up a bit of blood. Doctors rushed to help her, but she glared at them. She didn't need any help.

"Ann-Annabeth?" Percy said quietly as the pain came back. "I can't live like this. I have to remove the piece of glass."

"What piece of glass? I thought you had the curse of Achilles?" Annabeth asked him.

And that only made it harder for him.

"The glass hit me in the back Annabeth. I-I the only reason I'm still alive is because I haven't removed it yet."

Annabeth almost never cried. But now, tears made their way through her stubbornness and she sobbed. Tears went down slowly. One by one. And that hurt Percy more than any curse of Achilles.

"Y-you can't" Annabeth managed to say. "What about us?"

Percy remembered what he was going to do once he was arriving at camp.

"It's too late now, but after I die, go in my right pocket of my jacket."

"Don't say that!"

"Forget me Annabeth. Please, move on."

Those were Percy's last words. Without hesitation, he used his last strength he had, to turn around and remove the glass. It seemed as if time was frozen with only him moving. Pain more worse than anything he had felt in his life was now felt. He couldn't do anything to stop the tears in Annabeth's eyes, the yelling of the campers, the doctors frantically helping him hurriedly. He wanted this to be over. Quickly. And soon it was. He gave one shuddering breath and closed his eyes.

"Percy?" Annabeth called out as his eyes closed. "Percy!"

"He's dead Annabeth." Apollo said quietly.

"He can't be!"

Everyone surrounding the couple could only watch as Annabeth cried over Percy.

Chiron whispered something in her ear, and she finally remembered the right pocket of his jacket. She slowly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and reached out in his right pocket. She felt a shape. A box. Small enough to fit a ring. She took it out and opened the small tiny box. A ring. A ring worth of 24 karat gold. The ring had an owl and waves on it, making a shape resembling a circle for the base. Percy wanted to marry her. She put the ring on her finger and it gleamed brightly.

"He made that himself." Poseidon whispered.

Poseidon had been standing there the last few seconds, as well as Athena. Annabeth looked up at him, and quickly looked down again. He looked too much like Percy. He seemed to think so too, because a tear ran down his cheek. Athena had never seen her rival so downcast. Or her daughter for that matter. And that was when she knew that the rivalry had been going on long enough. She patted him on the shoulder awkwardly and didn't expect that he would hug her and make her shoulder wet.

"Arrangements for his shroud and funeral will be tomorrow." Chiron announced sadly.

Annabeth didn't say a word or even look at anyone. She walked out of the infirmary and went to her cabin. The campers didn't disturb her, which was the wise choice. Percy's last words to her were 'move on.' but she would never move along. Percy Jackson was her first true love. And it would stay that way until she died and joined him in Elysium.


End file.
